MaltaToday survey | Does religion make people happier?

MaltaToday’s latest survey has registered 31% of respondents saying they don’t attend Christmas mass • 23% celebrate the midnight mass • People who consider Christmas a religious feast and attend midnight mass tend to be happier during the season

18 December 2016, 7:30amby James Debono

Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus, remains a clear favourite of the Maltese over the more secular New Year

MaltaToday’s survey, held in the last weeks for the Christmas season, has found that people who said they see Christmas as both a “religious” as well as a “cultural” feast – as opposed to not seeing it as religious any longer – are more likely to feel happier than usual during the festive season, followed by those who regard it to be as ‘only’ a religious feast.

On the other hand, people who regard Christmas as a cultural feast could be more likely to feel sad.

This difference between respondents emerged in a survey that found 77% who see the day of the birth of Jesus Christ – one of the highlights in the Christian calendar – as both a cultural and a religious feast said they felt happier than usual during the festive season.

The percentage falls to 59% among those who primarily see Christmas as a religious feast and to just 32% among those who regard Christmas as a cultural feast.

And while only 4% of those who regard Christmas as both a religious and cultural feast say they are sadder in the festive season, the percentage rises to 11% among those who regard Christmas as primarily a religious feast, to 25% among those who regard it as a cultural feast and to 66% of those who regard Christmas as being neither a cultural nor a religious feast.

Read the full survey in MaltaToday

James Debono is MaltaToday's chief reporter on environment, planning and land use issues, ...